25 young people making noise for social progress

Rana Abdelhamid

Back when she was a teenager, Rana Abdelhamid was attacked on the street by a man who tried to grab her hijab and take it off of her. That’s when the black belt in karate came up with the idea for a class for women to teach women self defense.

Abdelhamid pitched the class to her imam, but it was rejected. But Abdelhamid didn’t let a simple “no” stop her. She created the International Muslim Women’s Initiative for Self Empowerment, or (IM) WISE, in 2010. The organization gave women self-defense classes and entrepreneurship training. It taught women to not only protect themselves, but also how to deal with discrimination against Muslims and women and how to empower themselves. This later became MALIKAH, and new chapters have since sprouted up all over the world. Abdelhamid and others also later created a Self-Defense Starter Kit with various resources for Muslim women.

Abdelhamid has since become the youngest serving board member for Amnesty International USA, has organized people during the Arab Spring, after the Muslim Ban was passed and more, and has been featured in various outlets. She also started a project similar to Humans of New York called Hijabis of New York.

Abdelhamid was also a L’Oreal Paris Women of Worth honoree, which she was terribly bullied and harassed over. But L’Oreal Paris defended her.

“I’ve faced a lot of discrimination,” Abdelhamid told Moneyish of her motivation to create (IM) WISE. “I wanted to help other women overcome and strengthen their sense of self.”